The War Room Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 From: Johnny Johnson Well, as a big Crockett fan, I would like to think that Davy died like the Disney movie portrayed it. However, I am forced to accept the fact that Davy probably was captured at the end of the battle. I do not share Jeff Long's opinion, which he states in his book "Duel of Eagles", that Crockett tried to plead for his life with Santa Ana. I believe that Davy probably knew the end was near and didn't try to prolong his life any further. There are simply too many reports of his capture, to believe that he died swinging his rifle "among a pile of 18 or 20 of the enemy." Johnny Johnson Date: Tue, 13 May 97 From: Ryszard Marciniak I believe Davy Crockett died as shown in the books. That famous picture of him swinging that club and killing ten mexicans.

Ryszard Marciniak Date: 05/29/97 From: Chuck Chappell I, too, prefer to think of Davy Crockett swinging ol' betsy till the end but, of course, there's nothing to verify this. However, I'm certainly not going to take the word of a victorious army led by such a -- shall we say "politician" -- as Santa Anna! He would have every incentive to play down the heroism of the garrison as well as undercount his casualties and showed a propensity to do just that in his political "career." I salute those in the Mexican Army as the brave men they were. Men who fought, and died, in a frontal assault of a prepared position -- all so the Generalisimo could put the Alamo behind him. "Eye witness accounts" recorded by those in the Mexican Army must be viewed with suspicion in my humble opinion, if for no other reason, because the political ax the General would have had to grind in that day. It really doesn't matter how Davy Crockett died though. What matters is that he stayed and fought against insurmountable odds for a noble cause in which he believed.

He was obviously a selfless man who believed in freedom so much that he willingly laid down his life so that his fellow man might benefit. What happened in the last few minutes of his life pails in comparison to a lifetime of courage, bravery and selflessness. Surely any right thinking person must admire such a man! The state of Tennessee and the state of Texas share a rich heritage in the person of Davy Crockett. Remember the Alamo and God bless the State of Texas! Chuck Chappell Subject: How Did David Crockett Die Date: 06/06/97 From: David Folds Obviously, Crockett died in a war, whether as Disney or John Wayne portrayed, or as a captive. Crockett died a hero either way. Every man defending that ground was a hero just because they stood against such odds to defend what they believed was right. Sometimes, though, I think people forget that Crockett was a politician...he wasn't an "injun fighter". He actually lived most of his life in peace. I'm sure he had no desire to die and was probably caught in San Antonio by his reputation.

But Crockett had never shown any signs of cowardness, and when the fight came to him, he obviously met it head on. If he died fighting, then strike one up for Disney. But if he looked around and had enough horsesense to realize that the few surviving defenders were no match for the army pouring over the walls, who could blame him for surrending and trying to survive to possibly live to fight another day. Either way, Crockett is a great American hero. David Folds Date: 06/08/97 From: Eric Jamborsky Despite "de la Pena", Kilgore, et al, Davy went down fighting. The surrender stories all seem to go back to Cos, whose veracity is doubtful. And the Pena diary (if actual) is very full of errors of identification. Some Texan might have surrendered, but not a Tennessean!

(OK, that might be a little inflamatory.) Eric Jamborsky Subject: A hero that died a hero Date: 06/12/1997 From: Patrick O'Connor The way that Crockett died was after he let his men go in the chapel with a cannon, Davy stayed outside and swung " Old Betsy." After killing 10-20 mexicans Crockett died by getting stabbed and shot at the way my dad told me. Patrick O'Connor Davy Crockett: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com Davy Crockett » Summary He is one of my ancestry and i am trying to run my family tree back to him and further. Birth: He is my uncle in some way Added by LadyDragon85385 21 Feb 2010 Connect me or another page to Davy Crockett? + There are no stories about Davy. Add a story Pictures & Records (3) Mother: Rebeckah Sullivan Hawkins 1 Father: John A. Crockett 1754 1 Marriage: To: 06 Mar 1836 1 Marriage: Looking for more information about Davy Crockett?

Search through millions of records to find out more. Find more records There are no links about Davy Crockett. Stories crockett.jpg Before the war ended, Santa Anna ordered that a red flag be raised from San Fernando cathedral indicating to the defenders that no quarter would be given. According to the controversial José Enrique de la Peña diary, several of those not killed in the final assault were captured by Colonel Manuel Fernández Castrillón and presented to Santa Anna, who personally ordered their executions. It is speculated that Davy Crockett was one of the six prisoners. De la Peña also states that Crockett attempted to negotiate a surrender with Santa Anna but was turned down on the grounds of 'no guarantees for traitors'. However, there is little evidence to support this. Still, some people believe that Davy Crockett was killed by Santa Anna's men after the 12 day struggle. A contemporary history summarizes the battle thus: "They fought all one bloody night, until he [Travis] fell with all the garrison but seven;--and they were slain, while crying for quarter!" This history, while not providing proof that Crockett was among those who survived the assault, does corroborate de la Peña's diary entry.

However, two eyewitness survivors attested that Crockett did die in the battle. Susanna Dickinson, the wife of an officer, said that Crockett was killed in the assault and that she saw his body between the long barracks and the chapel, and Travis' slave Joe said that he also saw Crockett lying dead with the bodies of slain Mexican soldiers around him. 21 Feb 2010 Congressman Crockett In 1830 the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court seemed to rule against the Indians. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a case extending Georgia's laws on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worcester v. Georgia. In this case Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign, making the removal laws invalid.

The Cherokee would have to agree to removal in a treaty. The treaty then would have to be ratified by the Senate. 2 images The traditional story holds that Crockett, the former congressman from Tennessee, fought to the end, wielding his long-rifle, "Betsy," like a club before he fell near the front doors of the Alamo's chapel. Two unidentified Texans paid nearly $390,000 for a diary that challenges one of the most popular legends in their state's history: that Davy Crockett proudly fought Mexican troops to the bitter end of the 13-day siege at the Alamo. The 200-page manuscript, purchased at an auction Wednesday in Hollywood, is supposedly a Mexican army officer's eyewitness account of Crockett's death on March 6, 1836. Musso acknowledged there are many who would refuse to believe that Crockett did not go down fighting. He said he is not one of them. Don Carleton, director of the Center for American History at the University of Texas, said Texans associate the Alamo with a great sense of patriotic pride, so many would be offended at the thought of Crockett surrendering.

"If the document is real, I don't think it should change people's perceptions of Davy Crockett. Whether he died swinging his rifle ... or whether he was brought before Santa Anna" should not matter, Musso said. Fact or Fiction on Davy's Death Unknown — Unknown The first and probably most important question is how did Davy Crocket really die and is the fictionalized account of his death really accurate? Some historians believe that Crocket did not die in the heat of battle as immortalized by the Duke. Instead, it is surmised that Davy and several other survivors located in the ruins of the Alamo were given no quarter and executed on the spot. In an attempt to answer this question, investigators have turned to the available Mexican records that chronicled the "victors" version of what happened after the battle. Translated documents written by José Enrique de la Pena, an aide to Santa Anna, indicate that Crocket, always the politician, attempted to talk his way out of his dire predicament.

Claiming that he was a citizen of the United States, Crocket spun a yarn saying that he had sought refuge in the Alamo rather than have his "Foreigner" status called into question by any Mexican forces that he may have encountered while coincidently exploring the countryside in and around the old mission. Apparently the triumphant Santa Anna was unimpressed with Davy's silver tongue and he ordered Crocket and 6 other survivors be put death. The horrified De la Pena writes that upon Santa Anna's command, several Mexican officers, "fell upon these unfortunate, defenseless men just as a tiger leaps upon his prey." Even thought this version of Crockets death raises the hackles of Alamo revisionist's everywhere, the fact remains that the surrender of Crocket and his subsequent execution was reported by several highly respected newspapers of the time. It proves just how barbaric and untrustworthy Santa Anna really was.

Either way, Davy Crocket died a heroic death as evidenced by De la Pena's final words about the execution, "though tortured before they were killed, these unfortunates died without complaining and without humiliating themselves before their torturers." It should be understood that many people in the New England and some eastern states were opposed to slavery and to any addition of states which tolerated it. England, too, used this as a pretext for aiding Mexico when her principal interest was in securing Texas cotton exports. Texans were regarded by an impressive number of observers as refugees from debts, as persons of callous nature, radical and even possibly criminal. "We trust for the future that 'Texian [sic] News' will not become as a great proverb . . . we cannot be sure even now whether Fannin's men have been butchered or not, whether Crockett is actually living, or dead with his 22 men. And more than all the rest, whether Santa Anna is really the awful raw-head and bloody-bones we have been made to believe, or the Texians [sic] themselves the veritable fire eaters they say they are." An Interview with a slave Interviewed in 1838 and 1840.

— Alamo The two left about 4 a.m. Signal rockets lit up the scene as the fight began and the noise was tremendous. The fighting ended before dawn. Santa Anna returned with Almonte, the latter complaining that another such a victory would ruin them. Having seen former congressman Crockett before (evidently while working at a hotel in Washington) Ben was sent into the fort to identify Crockett's body. It was surrounded by about 16 Mexicans, his knife stuck in one. Bodies removed for the fort were buried, not burned. (He may have seen only what happened with the Mexican dead.) Mexican losses were 1,200. Committed to death inside the Alamo were 189 known patriots who valued freedom more than life itself. Many, such as the 32 men and boys from Gonzales who made their way through the Mexican lines in answer to Travis's plea for reinforcements, were colonists. Theirs was a fight against Santa Anna's intolerable decrees. Others were volunteers such as David Crockett and his "Tennessee Boys" who owned nothing in Texas, and owed nothing to it. Theirs was a fight against tyranny wherever it might be.

A handful were native Texans of Spanish and Mexican descent who suffered under the same injustices as the other colonists. Crockett, using his rifle as a club, fell as the attackers, now joined by reinforcements who stormed the south wall, turned to the chapel. The Texans inside soon suffered the fate of their comrades. Bowie, his pistols emptied, his famous knife bloodied, and his body riddled, died on his cot. Sweethearts Of The West: THE TRUTH AND MYTHS ABOUT DAVID 'DAVY' CROCKETT THE TRUTH AND MYTHS ABOUT DAVID 'DAVY' CROCKETT By: Ashley Kath-Bilsky If there is one thing history has taught us, it’s that every age loves a hero—individuals who seem larger than life, and who through their words, experiences or contributions helped blaze the trail for others to follow. Unfortunately, very often the truth about them has been misinterpreted, fictionalized, and/or so embellished over time that the line between fact and fiction became so blurred we don’t really know what the “truth” is anymore. Such is the case for the subject of my post today.

Last September, I wrote a Sweethearts post about the State Fair of Texas. While visiting the fairgrounds with my family, we saw an exhibit about Texas heroes. Among the heroes included in this exhibit was the now legendary Davy Crockett. As I studied the fiddle, pipe, and derringer that allegedly belonged to Crockett, I found my curiosity about the man triggered. I’d never seen the ‘Davy Crockett’ television series starring Fess Parker, although I have seen several films about the Alamo. But since Hollywood has a way of embellishing or distorting the truth about historical figures for the purpose of ‘entertainment’, I wanted to know how much about the established folklore on Crockett was true. My journey led me to the one historical resource that I found most intriguing and trusted for accuracy, an 1834 autobiography written by Crockett himself. One of the first things I noted was that he never went by the nickname “Davy”, but used David Crockett throughout his lifetime. The nickname, right along with the coonskin cap and notion (as popularized by the Disney theme song) that he killed a bear when just three years old, have become part of the mythology connected with this man.

When I read the story of Crockett’s life written by his own hand, I soon learned that even in 1834 he was aware that stories were being told about him that just weren’t true. Some were exaggerations about his appearance and preconceived notions about his intelligence, or blatant lies being perpetuated by political rivals. In the preface of his book, ‘A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee’, Crockett made a point to state why he chose to write a book about himself. “A publication has been made to the world, which has done me much injustice; and the catchpenny errors which it contains, have been already too long sanctioned by my silence.” He then conveys that he is aware of a curiosity about him, which when compounded by the erroneous statements about him as a person made him more of a caricature than a human being. “I know, that obscure as I am, my name is making a considerable deal of fuss in the world. I can’t tell why it is, nor in what is it to end.

Go where I will, everybody seems anxious to get a peep at me…” ~ David Crockett I must confess that 176 years after his death, I also wanted to get a peep at him—but beyond the larger than life folklore and misty myths. I wanted to get to know DAVID CROCKETT – the real man who lived and died – from boyhood to adulthood. I wanted to see beyond the image of a coonskin cap wearing mountain man that has become iconic imagery, and feel as if I were sitting down and talking with him in person. I felt I was able to do that by his reading his words about his life. Ask any Texan and they will proudly tell you that Davy Crockett was a famous frontiersman and one of the valiant heroes who fought and died at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. There is even a famous painting of him brandishing his rifle “Betsy” like a club at soldiers of General Santa Ana’s army because he had no more ammunition.

Yet, even this image, so deeply embedded in the minds and hearts of many Texans—and even portrayed in several motion pictures on the subject—has been subject to scrutiny by historians and scholars over the years. Although I can well understand the historical significance of the battle and its moment-by-moment sequence of events, does it really matter at what time and how Davy Crockett died? The fact remains Col. David Crockett fought bravely, just as he had done many times throughout his life—and died a true hero. In my opinion, the focus should not be on how he died, but rather how this man lived. David Crockett was the fifth of six sons born to John Crockett and Rebecca Hawkins on 17 August 1786. His father, of Irish heritage, also served as a soldier in the American Revolution. After the war, John Crockett settled in eastern Tennessee, along with his parents and siblings. Those were dangerous, brutal times, and both of John Crockett’s parents were killed in their home by Creek Indians. John Crockett’s brother, Joseph, was wounded in the attack, but escaped. However, a younger, disabled brother named James was taken prisoner.

His fate would not be known until “seventeen years and nine months” later when John Crockett, and his elder brother William found him. They purchased their younger brother from an Indian trader, and James Crockett was returned to relatives. In 1834, when David Crockett wrote his autobiography, his Uncle James was alive and living in Cumberland County, Kentucky. John Crockett was a farmer and very poor. In addition to their six sons, John and Rebecca Crockett also had three daughters. There is no question the family endured harsh, difficult lives in the wilderness of Tennessee. However, it should be noted that when David Crockett cites his earliest childhood memory, it had nothing to do with killing a bear as a toddler. Rather, Crockett states: “…to show how soon I began to be a sort of a little man, I have endeavoured to take the back track of life, in order to fix on the first thing I can remember.” He then shares with the reader his earliest memory of playing with his four older brothers by a riverbank, along with a 15-year old neighbor boy. The older boys left David on the shore as they went out on the river in his father’s canoe.

David (who recalls being too young to even wear breeches at the time) watched—not at all happy they had left him behind. He recollected watching them then steer themselves into great danger, and how a neighbor saw the canoe headed toward the rapids and proceeded to strip and jump in the river to save them. The neighbor was able to intervene and bring the frightened boys (with their father’s canoe) safely back to shore. Yet, even the sight of the life-threatening drama did not ease young David’s indignation. Rather, he felt they got what they deserved for leaving him behind on shore. This is not only the first memory Crockett shares, but conveys his stubborn streak and desire for adventure very early in childhood. This desire for adventure would become a constant thread in David’s life. Because they were extremely poor, struggling to survive, the Crockett children worked with their father from an early age on the family farm. Schooling was not possible at this time for them. However, like most men, John Crockett wanted to improve his situation in life and provide better for his family. When David was about seven, the family moved to the mouth of Cove creek where his father joined with a business partner to build a mill.

In his book, Crockett related, “They went on very well with their work until it was nigh done, when there came the second epistle to Noah’s fresh, and away went their mill, shot, lock, and barrel. I remember the water rose so high, that it got up into the house we lived in, and my father moved us out of it, to keep us from being drowned.“ The Crockett family next moved to Jefferson County, where John Crockett opened a tavern on the road from Abbingdon to Knoxville (pictured). It was while living here that young David would experience his first adventure away from home. An old Dutchman, moving from Tennessee to Virginia, had stopped at John Crockett’s tavern. The man needed someone to help on his journey and asked John Crockett if he could hire his then 12-year old son, David. Thinking the work experience might help his son learn an occupation, especially since at 12 years of age David Crockett still could not read or write, his father allowed the Dutchman to hire his son just for the journey. Having never lived away from his parents, young David left on a four hundred mile journey by foot with someone he’d never met before.

“I set out with a heavy heart,” David Crockett wrote. He conveys that though the journey was not of his choosing, he did it out of obedience to his father. There was just one problem. When the journey ended, the Dutchman persuaded David to stay with him. The continued offer of employment was confusing to the 12-year old. As to the dilemma he faced, Crockett wrote: “I had been taught so many lessons of obedience by my father, that I at first supposed I was bound to obey this man, or at least I was afraid openly to disobey him; and I therefore staid with him…” Still, the boy longed for home, despite the brave front he showed his employer. And a month later, chance offered him an opportunity to go home. David happened to see three wagons while playing by the road near his employer, and recognized the drivers. He struck up a conversation with them and when he learned they were going to Knoxville, he told Mr. Dunn of his situation and that he wanted to go home. Mr. Dunn told him that they would be spending the night at a tavern seven miles distance,and that if David could get to them by the next morning, they would take him home.

Mr. Dunn further added that if David was scared, he would protect him. Such acts of kindness from people who often helped David Crockett in his life was something he never forgot, and would have a profound effect on the compassionate man he would become. The longing to be back home with his parents was so strong, that David returned to his employer’s house and gathered his meager belongings, stowing them under the head of his bed. “I went to bed early that night, but sleep seemed to be a stranger to me. For though I was a wild boy, yet I dearly loved my father and mother, and their images appeared to be so deeply fixed in my mind, that I could not sleep for thinking of them.” Three hours before dawn, this 12-year old boy began his trek—in a blinding snowstorm—to reach Mr. Dunn seven miles away by the designated time. Here is our next insight to David Crockett the man. From an early age, he possessed courage and determination. When he set his mind to something, he did it. “I had not even the advantage of moonlight, and the whole sky was hid by the falling snow, so that I had to guess at my way…”.

He continues, “…the earth was covered about as deep as my knees; and my tracks filled so briskly after me, that by daylight, my Dutch master could have seen no trace which I left.” He reached the tavern in time, and Mr. Dunn treated him with care and kindness. “My heart was more deeply impressed by meeting such a friend, and ‘at such a time’, than by wading the snow-storm at night, or all the other sufferings which my mind had endured.” David Crockett returned to the warm embrace of his family; in the fall, he attended a country school for the first time in his life. However, four days later, David had an altercation with a much bigger, older boy. Having taken just about as much as he could, David waited in the bushes and when the bully was walking home from school, he leapt out and began to give the older boy ‘salt and vinegar’. Thus, is unveiled the next aspect of David Crockett’s personality. He’d always had a longing for education, and recognized that he lacked book learning. However, he deeply resented when people assumed that because he was poor and had no formal schooling that he was not intelligent.

After the incident with the bully, Crockett never went back to school. He knew the schoolmaster would punish him and David Crockett refused to get a whipping. Instead, he concocted a plan. He would leave with his brothers for school in the morning then hide all day in the woods, and walk back home with them. Of course, the deception eventually became known to his father, and an argument ensued. John Crockett ordered his son back to school. David said he would not go back and get whipped. With his father’s Irish temper now in full swing, John Crockett grabbed a hickory switch and said he would give his son a whipping. A chase ensued, and it was only by outrunning and diving into some bushes at the top of a hill that David was able to hide from his father. Then, fearing the punishment when he went back home that evening, he ran away. It would be several years before David returned home again. He traveled from Tennessee to Baltimore, and worked for farmers, waggoners, and even a hatter in Virginia. He even came close to becoming a cabin boy on a ship bound for London. There’s that love of adventure again. And, without question, he had a strong work ethic.

But once more he missed his loved ones. Not knowing what type of welcome he would receive, or if his father was still angry with him, a now 15-year old David Crockett entered his father’s tavern with a group of waggoners who had stopped for the night. But he’d grown up so much, no one recognized him. So, in silence, he sat and watched his family—soaking up the sight of them again. It was not until everyone was called to supper, and he sat down at the table, that his eldest sister recognized him. Just like the parable of the Prodigal Son, she jumped up and ran and hugged him, exclaiming, “Here is my lost brother!” Crockett wrote of the incident as follows: “The joy of my sisters and my mother, and, indeed, of all the family, was such that it humbled me, and made me sorry that I hadn’t submitted to a hundred whippings, sooner than cause so much affliction as they had suffered on my account.” While home again, he worked hard to help his father, and even indentured himself to two different men to pay off debts his father had owed.

Not long after these notes were paid, David developed his first crush on a pretty Quaker girl, the niece of his last employer. When he learned she was engaged to another man, he felt his lack of schooling was an impediment to proving his worth as a prospective suitor for any woman. He contracted to work for another Quaker man who kept a school a few miles away. In exchange for going to school four days a week, David worked the other two days to pay his board and the cost for schooling. The total of six months learning he received during this time would be the only schooling David Crockett ever had. He eventually became engaged to a beautiful but conniving female who two-timed him and promised to also marry another man. He became very depressed and began to think there might be something wrong with him. He even confided to some neighbors, a Dutch widow and her daughter, about his fears. The kindly daughter told him if he would come to a reaping scheduled very soon, she would introduce him to the “one of the prettiest little girls” he would ever see. Although skeptical, David attended and brought several friends with him.

Not only did he find Mary “Polly” Finlay more beautiful, she was "sweeter than sugar". He courted her and they married on 12 August 1806. David and Polly would have two sons, John Wesley Crockett and William Finlay Crockett, born in 1807 and 1808 respectively. Like his father before him, David wanted to provide well for his wife and children. In 1809, they moved to Lincoln County where Crockett began to “distinguish himself as a hunter”. But the need for bigger game to better feed his family prompted Crockett to relocate them again in 1811 to Beans Creek in Franklin County. A daughter named Margaret would be born in 1812. Then, on 29 August 1813, Chief Red Eagle and his Creek warriors attacked Fort Mims and massacred over 500 men, women, and children. Thus began the Indian Wars, and David Crockett volunteered to fight in the militia. His young wife begged him not to go. She was now a stranger in a part of the backwoods country where they lived, and had no family or friends there.

“It was mighty hard to go against such arguments as these”, Crockett wrote, "but my countrymen had been murdered, and I knew that the next thing would be, that the Indians would be scalping the women and children all about there, if we didn’t put a stop to it. I reasoned the case with her as well as I could, and told her, that if every man would wait till his wife got willing for him to go to war, there would be no fighting done, until we would all be killed in our own houses; that I was as able to go as any man in the world; and that I believed it was a duty I owed my country." And so he went and served. Due to his skill with a rifle and as a woodman, he was chosen to scout for Major Gibson’s special regiment. During the war, he often went off alone to hunt and help feed his fellow soldiers who were all but starving from lack of provisions. His initiative to do this is another trait Crockett possessed. After the war, and for the remainder of his life, whenever a neighbor or even a stranger was hungry and needed to feed their family, David Crockett would take it upon himself to go hunting with them.

Even at times when he was not feeling well or just exhausted from a hunting trip to feed his own family, he would turn around and go out again, unable to refuse someone in need. An interesting side note of his compassion and determination to feed his fellow soldiers is when he even traded gun powder and 10 lead bullets to an Indian for a hat full of corn. At this time, the war was winding down, and they were so isolated from the main army, Crockett knew if he didn’t find a way to feed the soldiers in his unit, they would die. He returned home after the war ended, and worked his farm. But, tragedy would pierce his heart on 11 Jun 1815.

Crockett writes, “Death, that cruel leveler of all distinctions,--to whom the prayers and tears of husbands, and of even helpless infancy, are addressed in vain,--entered my humble cottage, and tore from my children an affectionate good mother, and from me a tender and loving wife.” He goes on to poignantly share his emotional turmoil, devastation and his need to trust in God, “whose ways are always right, though we sometimes think they fall heavily on us; and as painful as is even yet the remembrance of her sufferings, and the loss sustained by my little children and myself, yet I have no wish to lift up the voice of complaint. I was left with three children; the two oldest were sons, the youngest a daughter, and, at that time, a mere infant.” [Pictured: Gravesite of Mary "Polly" Finlay Crockett. Unable to bear the thought of “scattering his children”, Crockett realized he needed to marry again. His second wife was Elizabeth Patton, a widow whose husband had been killed in the Indian Wars. She also had a son and daughter, close in age to Crockett’s children.

David and Elizabeth would remain married until his death in 1836, and have three children together: Robert Patton Crockett, Rebecca Crockett, and Matilda Crockett. Crockett would eventually relocate to Shoals Creek for 2-3 years. Since there was no law in this deep backwoods area, the need to establish a form of government found David Crockett appointed one of the magistrates. This position eventually led Crockett to the state Legislature, and eventually to Congress. Without question, the rise of David Crockett from an illiterate, uneducated backwoods frontiersman to a popular and respected member of Congress was a remarkable journey. He was truly a man of the people, and felt a serious obligation to those people who believed in him and voted him into office. As a result, he cared not for party loyalties but followed his own conscience and sense of right and wrong. In fact, it was ultimately this innate honesty and strength of character which made him stand up against the Indian Bill of President Andrew Jackson. [Pictured: President Andrew Jackson] Other members of Congress even told Crockett he would be ‘ruining himself’ since the Indian Bill was a “favourite” measure of the president.

In 1834, Crockett wrote: “I told them I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure, and that I should go against it, let the cost to myself be what it might. I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience yet tells me that I gave a good honest vote, and one that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day of judgment.” When his term ended, Crockett left Washington, D.C., and went home to Tennessee. Almost immediately, measures were taken by the media, politicians, and “pin-hook lawyers” to try and discredit him, his character, and destroy his political future. He writes in his autobiography that to go against President Jackson at that time was, “considered an unpardonable sin”. It is ironic to compare the media manipulation and corruption we so often find common in politics today and the striking realities of its existence and influence in the early part of the 19th century. All too often we tend to look through rose-colored glasses on the past. We fail to realize there were men even then who cared more for power and political careers than the best interest of the nation they were elected to serve and protect.

Today, President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Bill is remembered for its cruel persecution of Native Americans, and the shame it brought to the United States. In what became known as the “Trail of Tears”, the president’s ‘favourite’ Indian Bill ordered the “forced relocation” of Native American Indians from their home lands to the Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). Many died from exposure, starvation, and disease. In fact, 4,000 of the 15,000 members of the Cherokee nation died on the journey. [Pictured: Trail of Tears exhibit – Cherokee Heritage Center, Tahlequah, Oklahoma] Ultimately, it was a combination of many things that led David Crockett to Texas in 1836. He had become disgusted with Washington, D.C., and the corruptive partisan politics that all too often had little regard for what the people of the United States wanted. And when we remember his strong work ethic, love of adventure, and determination to provide a better life for himself and his family, clearly, the promise of adventure, opportunity, and freedom in a new frontier beckoned him to Texas.

David Crockett was 49 years old when he died during the Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Without question, he died a hero, fighting with honor to the very end. But, it is important to also remember him as a flesh and blood man—just like the other men at the mission. He knew poverty and hunger, and had fought for survival most all his life. Whether walking knee-deep in snow to get home, working as an indentured servant to help his beloved father, or years later braving icy, swollen rivers to feed his family and neighbors in the dead of winter. It was the sum total of his hopes, dreams, beliefs, and lifetime experiences that ultimately brought David Crockett to Texas. A devoted son and brother, he was also a trusted friend and caring human being. A loving husband and father, he experienced joy and heartache, as well as the worry, fear and determination to do whatever was necessary to provide for his family. He was a patriot who loved his country and was ever willing to fight and die for freedom.

At the same time, he was not afraid to stand his ground—alone, if need be—and disagree with the President of the United States when he knew something was unjust and wrong. He faced numerous struggles, illness, and adversity with a positive attitude, determination to persevere, and good humor. He was a self-taught man who repeatedly proved his insightful intelligence and wit. He loved and respected nature, as well as the elements. Most of all, he was a man of faith who believed the principles of honesty, fairness, and compassion—especially toward those in need—were of greatest value in a man’s life. Thank you for stopping by and reading my post about the ‘real’ David Crockett. I hope you enjoyed it, and truly appreciate your taking the time to visit. ~ AKB Resource: A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee (1834) by: David Crockett [Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, BY DAVID CROCKETT, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Office of the District of Columbia]

Question: What, according to legend, did Davey Crocket name his rifle?
Answer: Betsy